Download Magazine - Levin College of Law - University of Florida

5 QUESTIONSDEANROBERTJERRYLevin Mabie& LevinProfessorof Law100 Years of UF LawQ. In our last issue, we discussed changes in legaleducation. As the UF College of Law nears its100-year anniversary, what are some of the mostsignificant changes that have taken place?Certainly the diversity of our faculty and student bodyhas changed dramatically. We recently honored thelate UF Law Professor Walter Weyrauch’s record 51years of continuous teaching at a single institution,and he noted that when he began teaching here thatteachers and students alike were male and white.Today nearly half our student body are female, andmore than a quarter are minorities. We also havegrown considerably in size and scope. We opened in1909 with 38 students and two faculty members. Wenow have more than 1,200 students and 100 facultymembers (including tenure/tenure track, legal skills,and clinical).Q. What events do you have planned for thecollege’s centennial in 2009?Our biggest event is the Centennial Celebration/All Classes Reunion April 24-25, 2009. We’reinviting alumni from every class year to returnto campus to help us celebrate this significantmilestone. So far, we have planned a CenturyWelcome Reception, tours, Heritage of Leadership& Distinguished Alumnus ceremony, availableCLE credits, a family BBQ with Albert & Alberta,decade dinners (classmates grouped by decades inseparate locations), children’s dinner and movies(ages 5-12), an after party and a farewell brunch.Q. What do you think would most surprisealumni returning to Gainesville after asignificant absence?Gainesville, the University of Florida and the Collegeof Law have changed internally, of course, but thevisual differences are most compelling. Gainesvilleis not a small college town anymore; it’s grown up.Highways have replaced dirt roads, and buildingsstand where cows once grazed. Our college openedin 1909 in one unplastered room in Thomas HallDormitory. We moved to Bryan Hall in 1941, andthen to the Spessard L. Holland Law Center, ourcurrent location, in 1968. We added Bruton-GeerHall in 1984 and our two classroom towers in 2005,along with a major renovation of Holland Halland the Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center.Construction is now underway on the $6-millionMartin H. Levin Legal Advocacy Center, whichwill house a state-of-the-art courtroom. This willcomplete the total reconstruction of the college’sacademic space during this decade. Our physicalfacilities are outstanding and a marvel to those whohave not seen them within the last few years.Q. How do you characterize the state of thecollege today?When UF Law celebrates its centennial in 2009, wewill do so proudly as a strong, thriving law school.Applications from highly qualified students to ourJ.D., LL.M. and S.J.D. programs increase each year.We have expanded our Graduate Tax Program, whichis consistently ranked as one of the nation’s best,and which now offers the LL.M. in InternationalTaxation and the S.J.D. in Graduate Taxation in2 UF LAW